Latinos are the largest ethnic group in California, a state that sees drought and wildfire season intensify on an annual basis. On the Gulf Coast, a record-breaking Hurricane season disproportionately affected Black and Latinx lives through displacement and death.
The world on a whole is currently experiencing extreme weather events impacting those least responsible for creating the climate crisis most.
Latinos as a whole are much more convinced the climate crisis is real and exacerbated by humans. According to a poll by Climate 2020, a staggering 77% of Latino voters support a message of action to respond to the climate.
Democratic Latinx legislators from across the U.S. are answering the call for much-needed action to combat climate change through landmark legislative measures.
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Rep. Nanette Barragán
Barragán has been fighting the Climate Crisis on a more local level —where it matters the most.
In 2020, she’s been an advocate for low-income communities in her district, largely Latinx, that have been long-affected by the dangers of climate change and pollution.
Environmental racism has been intensified amid a pandemic that has disproportionately affected Black and Latinx lives. In her own district, the Port of Los Angeles and the surrounding freeways are a huge source of air pollution. While it is an “economic engine,” Barragán is pushing for investment in zero-emissino technology at ports like hers across the nation.
She, along with several Democratic reps urged House Leadership to support a green stimulus investment to be considered within the next COVID-19 relief and recovery package.
Instead, the Senate has adjourned again without providing any sort of stimulus package to aid the nation as it faces another surge in COVID-19 cases, so Barragán’s initiative as it seems, is stuck for the foreseeable future.
Regardless, it increased visibility on how these issues — health disparities, the climate crisis, and racism— are all intertwined. It’s too late for the Climate Crisis to be considered without all of its implications and intersectionality.